Wikipedia
Critical realism may refer to:
- Critical realism (philosophy of perception), a perspective that states that some sense-data are accurate to external objects
- Critical realism (philosophy of the social sciences), philosophical approach associated with Roy Bhaskar
- Theological critical realism, a term used in the religion–science interface community
- Social realism, particularly applied to art.
In the philosophy of perception, critical realism is the theory that some of our sense-data (for example, those of primary qualities) can and do accurately represent external objects, properties, and events, while other of our sense-data (for example, those of secondary qualities and perceptual illusions) do not accurately represent any external objects, properties, and events. Put simply, critical realism highlights a mind-dependent aspect of the world that reaches to understand (and comes to an understanding of) the mind-independent world.
Critical realism, a philosophical approach associated with Roy Bhaskar (1944-2014), combines a general philosophy of science ( transcendental realism) with a philosophy of social science (critical naturalism) to describe an interface between the natural and social worlds.